Lakers Free Agency Profile: Kevin Love

Over the next few weeks, as this season mercifully comes to an end, I’ll be profiling any and all potential free agents the Los Angeles Lakers might look at this upcoming off-season in the order they are listed on HoopsHype.com.

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The good news: Finally, a free agent the Lakers might actually have a shot at this off-season! The bad: Kevin Love might not actually fit as a Laker and questions have been raised about whether he can work on a championship team at all.

First, let’s start out with what would have to take place that might make Love consider greener pastures elsewhere. His Cleveland Cavaliers have turned into a juggernaut after a couple intelligent personnel decisions and roster moves by LeBron James the front office. Timofey Mozgov has provided the interior presence they desperately needed and less defensive responsibilities now lie with Love, as he tends to prefer.

Now, after those moves, and given Cleveland’s improved play, it’s hard not to see them in the Eastern Conference Finals, where most will see them as favorites. An early playoff exit would obviously make Love think about his immediate future. If he’s going to sacrifice as he has this season, why do so for a team not guaranteed to make the finals, after all? It’s just hard to see said playoff exit occurring, with a driven LeBron at the helm.

Still, though, the chemistry on this Cavs team has been undeniably weird. Yes, the national media deserves some scorn for reading into each Instagram post like super fans used to with episodes of “Lost,” but flare-ups like Love’s leaving the bench early make it impossible not to put everything under a microscope

So, what do the Lakers have to offer?

Obviously, a potential return to where Love played college basketball would be a major selling angle. Is the southern California sun enough to pull him from a title contender, though? I don’t think so, not by itself, at least.

In terms of personnel, the Lakers could sell to Love that he’d be the top dog once again, as he was with the Minnesota Timberwolves. That being said, the Lakers have a top 7 pick in Julius Randle at the very position Love would hope to play. It’s kind of hard to tell someone they’d be the alpha dog on a team where he’d probably have to compete for minutes at his own position.

Just as I said with Randle, if LaMarcus Aldridge said he wanted to join the Lakers, it’s not that I think Randle is the better player, only that he offers the flexibility to continue on the rebuild trajectory it seems the front office has laid out. Randle by himself shouldn’t detract the Lakers from pursuing Love. That would be insane. Just know that doing so would probably mean a rethinking of the rebuilding process.

One option, as Love is a much more legitimate candidate to be a Laker, is to have Randle come off the bench, much like Lamar Odom did during those title runs. This would actually be interesting to see play out, as it would mean much less pressure on Randle to produce immediately as a rookie, for all intents and purposes.

Combine Love and Randle with another big, such as Jahlil Okafor, Karl-Anthony Towns or Willie Cauley-Stein, and the Lakers would immediately be set up front for the foreseeable future. That front court could easily vie for titles so long as they’re healthy. Wouldn’t that be fun?

In terms of the contract it would take to acquire Love, one would have to guess he’d pursue the max. Would Love take a two-year deal with an opt out clause to enjoy some of that incoming TV money? I could very well see that; and it would benefit both he and the Lakers, as they’d maintain flexibility in the vaunted summer of 2016.

Love has it pretty well in Cleveland. He gets to stand around, hit threes and compete for championships along one of the greatest players of his generation. But, if he decides he wants more, why not envision a return to the city where he helped blaze a trail to the Final Four?

Next: Lakers Free Agency Profile: LaMarcus Aldridge

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